Government on track for surplus: English

11/04/2013

Next month's budget will confirm the Government is on track to achieve a surplus in 2014/15, Finance Minister Bill English says.

"The Government has set a target of returning to fiscal surplus in 2014/15 and the budget will set out updated forecasts next month," Mr English said in a speech to the Wellington Employers Chamber of Commerce.

"But I can confirm that it will show the government remains on track to surplus in 2014/15, as a result of our careful management of the accounts."

He said that represents a significant turnaround for the Government after just two years ago running an $18.4 billion deficit, half of which was the cost of contributing to the rebuild of Canterbury.

After 2014/15 the Government focus would shift toward using forecast surpluses to achieve its second fiscal objective: bringing down the Government's net debt to 20 percent of GDP by 2020.

"This reflects what the Government considers to be prudent levels of debt in the current economic environment," he said.

"In the half-year update in December, net government debt was forecast to be almost 30 per cent of GDP in 2017."

Meeting the 20 percent target would mean maintaining firm control on spending.